The Commissioner of Baseball is the highest office in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Nippon Professional Baseball is a professional baseball league and the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning simply ''Professional Baseball''; outside of Japan, NPB is often referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league ...

(NPB). NPB's current commissioner is

Sadayuki Sakakibara Sadayuki Sakakibara (born March 22, 1943) is Commissioner of Baseball (NPB), the commissioner of Nippon Professional Baseball. He also joined Toray Industries in 1967 and became its company president in 2002. References

Nippon Professional ...

History

Matsutarō Shōriki, media mogul and owner of the

Yomiuri Giants The are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They h ...

, was instrumental in the formation of NPB in 1949–1950, and acted unofficially as the league's first commissioner in 1950. Ichiro Yoshikuni has been the longest-serving commissioner, in office from 1989–1998. In September 2013, three-term Commissioner Ryozo Kato was forced to resign when it was revealed that the baseballs used during the 2013 Nippon Professional Baseball season were "juiced" in secret, though Kato claimed to not know about the change. The livelier ball resulted in a marked increase in home runs league-wide, including

Tokyo Yakult Swallows The Tokyo Yakult Swallows () are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Shinjuku, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams in Tokyo, the other being the Yomiuri G ...

outfielder Wladimir Balentien breaking the cherished NPB single-season home run record of 55, previously held by professional baseball's all-time home run leader

Sadaharu Oh Sadaharu Oh ( Japanese: , ''Ō Sadaharu''; born May 20, 1940), also known as Wang Chen-chih (), is a Japanese-born Chinese former professional baseball player and manager who is currently the chairman of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of N ...

Commissioners

# Morita Fukui (1951–1954) #

Nobori Inon is a Japanese type of banner. They are long, narrow flags, attached to a pole with a cross-rod to hold the fabric straight out and prevent it from furling around the rod; this way, the field is always visible and identifiable. History of use ...

(1956–1962) #

Yushi Uchimura Yushi may refer to: * Mount Yushi, a mountain in Dongyang Township, Guangfeng District, Shangrao, Jiangxi, China * Yushi, Hunan, a town in Xinhuang Dong Autonomous County, Hunan, China * Yushi Subdistrict, in Xishi District, Yingkou, Liaoning, Chi ...

(1962–1965) #

Toshiyoshi Miyazawa Toshiyoshi is a masculine Japanese given name. Written forms Toshiyoshi can be written using many different combinations of kanji characters. Here are some examples: *敏義, "agile, justice" *敏吉, "agile, good luck" *敏善, "agile, virtuou ...

(1965–1971) #

Nobumoto Ohama Nobumoto (written: 信本) is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically c ...

(1971–1976) #

Toshi Kaneko Toshi may refer to: * Toshi (given name), people with the given name ''Toshi'' * Toshihiko Tahara (born 1961), Japanese idol singer, a solo vocalist * Toshi (musician) (Toshimitsu Deyama, born 1965), a Japanese singer and musician * Toshi (comed ...

(1976–1979) #

Takeso Shimoda was a Japanese diplomat who served as ambassador to the United States and a justice in the Supreme Court of Japan. Career Shimoda served as vice foreign minister (a bureaucratic appointment) within the Japanese Foreign Ministry. He was involv ...

(1979–1985) # Juhei Takeuchi (1985–1988) # Ichiro Yoshikuni (1989–1998) #

Hiromori Kawashima Hiromori Kawashima (February 2, 1922 – December 9, 2012) was a Japanese police officer and executive who served as the Commissioner of Baseball in Nippon Professional Baseball from 1998 to 2004. He is a member of the Japanese Baseball Hall of ...

(1998–2004) #

Yasuchika Negoro was the 9th ''daimyō'' of Hirosaki Domain in northern Mutsu Province, Honshū, Japan (modern-day Aomori Prefecture). His courtesy title, initially Dewa-no-kami, was later raised to ''Saikyo Daiyu'' and ''Jujū'', and his Court rank was Junior ...

(2004–2007) # Ryozo Kato (2008–2014) #

Katsuhiko Kumazaki was the commissioner for the Nippon Professional Baseball league. He served as the Commissioner of Baseball (NPB) between 2014 and 2017. He handed out punishments for many reasons, including gambling. He was key in the return of baseball to the 2 ...

(2014–2017) #

Atsushi Saito Atsushi is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: * Atsushi (musician), Japanese singer *, Japanese voice actor *, Japanese synchronized swimmer *, Japanese professional wrestler *, Japanese water polo player *, Jap ...

(2017–2022) #

Nippon Professional ...

(2023–present)

References

{{reflist Commissioner Baseball occupations